Old Dogs, New Tricks

Just two months after the “aggressive behavior,” or “insurrection” if you prefer, at the Capitol Building the U.S. government faced yet another major uprising last week, this time in the White House.

According to a report, President Joe Biden’s German Shepherd named “Major” had a serious “biting incident” with White House security late last week.  As a result, Biden’s dogs were returned to Delaware after Major’s “aggressive behavior” incident, said the CNN report.

 This photo didn’t age well. None of it.

It’s usually only news these days when man bites dog, but CNN always takes you the extra mile.

Time heals all wounds, doesn’t it?

Maybe it doesn’t, at least not yet in the fractured, cracked, divided, tumultuous, unsettled Republican Party.

Donald Trump doesn’t like having his name thrown around by the RNC these days.

In a Monday letter to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel J. Justin Riemer said the committee while fundraising  “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech.”

He maintained that Trump had also “reaffirmed” to the chair of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, over the weekend “that he approves of the RNC’s current use of his name in fundraising and other materials.”

Trump responded to the letter with a statement that put that agreement in doubt. “No more money for RINOS,” or Republican in name only, he stated. “They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base.  They will never lead us to greatness.”   He’s nothing if not “like a dog on a bone.”

Hmm.  One of the two sounds like a head fake.

The RNC wants to use Trump’s name for the good that he brings to the party-aka money and loyalty from his base.  Conversely,  Trump’s instinct must be to control the use of his name and image to position himself as the undisputed leader of the GOP.

Further, he wants to raise his own money to, amongst other initiatives, exact revenge by backing challengers to Republican incumbents who crossed him by voting to impeach him for inciting the Capitol riot.  Trump has the shock collar out.

All of this divisiveness in the RNC when the Great Unifier just took over the Oval Office seems tawdry at best.

But, Trump is Trump.  Remember, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

And, in the White House or in pursuit of the same, it’s a major mistake to bite the hand that feeds you.